Great team behaviours are those that improve teamwork, foster team spirit and increase efficiency. These are the team behaviours that you want to hold on to and encourage.
Let’s take a look at some great team behaviours leaders should strive for, and some actions to take if you’re not seeing them in your team.
Great Team Behaviour #1. Demonstrate Respect for Other Team Members
Showing respect is one of the easiest team behaviours in many ways, but it has a big impact on teamwork. When your team members aren’t respectful to each other, small issues become large and tempers flare.
You want your team members to show respect for each other’s time and skills. You need them to apologise when they’ve made a mistake which has inconvenienced others.
Signs that you have a problem with disrespectful team behaviours
- You notice some team members trying to dump work onto other colleagues and ignoring their workload
- You notice team members delegating tasks they feel are “beneath them” to other people who they see as less important
- More helpful team members become overloaded with work while others don’t offer to help at all
- “Please” and “Thank you” are foreign concepts to your team members.
Some ways to solve respect issues in your team
- Be a role model. Show the respectful behaviour that you want to see.
- Act fast. Identify disrespectful behaviours and correct them, quickly. Let team members know that the behaviours you are seeing won’t be tolerated.
Learn More: 6 Steps to Deal With Behaviour Issues In Your Team.
Great Team Behaviour #2. Team Members Share the Workload
The best teams I’ve led are those that share the workload, regardless of the role they play within the team. This promotes collaboration which can really motivate team members.
Team members feel like they’re “all in this together” and that somebody will help them if they are in trouble.
Support within a team is critical to employee engagement, and it doesn’t just come from the leader.
Learn More: You can learn more about supporting your team in this post: How to better support your team.
Signs you might have a problem with work sharing
- People are often saying things like “that’s your job” or “your work” rather than taking a team view. They are distancing themselves from responsibility and blame. Ideally, you want “your work” to become “our work”.
- People in one role are overloaded with work, while others are easily coping, without offering to help.
How to solve problems with sharing work in your team
- Watch out for people who are doing less than others. If they don’t volunteer to help out, then be more directive and instruct them to do so.
- Address poor performance in your team. Sometimes if team members don’t want to help others out, it’s because they feel like the other person isn’t capable. “Why should I work harder when they can’t even do their job”. Look for these situations and tackle them fast.
Great Team Behaviour #3. Team Members Give Each Other Credit
One of the best team behaviours is team members openly sharing credit for work, or publicly recognising each other’s contribution.
This shows trust, collaboration and respect. It also demonstrates a less competitive mindset that may undermine the effectiveness of the team.
Signs that you have issues with team recognition
- You notice a team member taking all the credit for work performed by multiple team members
- Team members take the “default credit”. They don’t openly claim the credit, but instead of identifying the contributions of others, they say nothing at all.
Some ways to solve team recognition problems
- Be a role model: Be mindful of giving credit where it’s due.
- Step in: If others aren’t giving credit when they should, raise it directly and do it for them.
Great Team Behaviour #4. Team Members Take Accountability
When your team is working well, team members are more likely to take accountability for their actions. In addition, you may notice team members start to hold others accountable too.
When your team members take accountability, it means you don’t need to take everything on yourself. Your team will play their part and take ownership and pride in their work. Ultimately, you are responsible for what happens in your team, but it helps when your team cares as much as you do.
Signs that you have an accountability problem in your team
- Team members point fingers at each other to lay blame
- Team members plead ignorance, “I didn’t know I needed to do that”; and
- Your team members seem to lack commitment or motivation.
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